World Athletics Appoints Executive Board Members -- Federation Focus

(ATR) Hasan Arat (Turkey), Abby Hoffman (Canada) and Sunil Sabharwal (USA) are the newest members of the World Athletics Executive Board.

Their appointments were approved by the Council during its first meeting since the athletics federation changed its branding to World Athletics from the IAAF.

World Athletics says that three of the nine members of the panel are appointed rather than elected "to ensure the Executive Board has the necessary skills, expertise, as well as gender and geographical diversity, to undertake its responsibilities" of governing the federation’s business matters.

Arat, 60, is the Vice President of the Turkish Olympic Committee and an Executive Committee Member of the European Olympic Committees. He became a successful businessman following a career as aprofessional basketball player.

Hoffman, 72, represented Canada in middle-distance events at four Olympic Games. She has been a World Athletics Council member since 1995 and was the World Athletics Competition Commission chair from 2015-2019. She is currently the Assistant Deputy Minister for the Strategic Policy Branch for Health Canada.

Sabharwal, 55, was an NCAA All-American fencer while at Ohio State University. He has been Secretary General of the International Fair Play Committee since 2003 and a member of the International Olympic Committee commission on sustainability and legacy since 2000. Sabharwal also served as a US board member to the International Monetary Fund across two administrations and was a board member of the LA 2028 bid committee.

The three newly appointed members join World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, Senior Vice President Sergey Bubka, Vice Presidents Nawaf Bin Mohammed Al Saud, Geoff Gardner, Ximena Restrepo, and CEO Jon Ridgeon (non-voting) on the Executive Board.

IBU Partners Olympic Channel

The International Biathlon Union becomes the Olympic Channel’s 93rd federation partner.

Under a deal revealed on Tuesday, the Olympic Channel and the IBU will collaborate on content, growing coverage of the sport which has had a dedicated sports page on the IOC’s global digital platform since its launch in August 2016.

"We are delighted to partner with the Olympic Channel at this crucial time for biathlon," IBU President Olle Dahlin said in a statement. "In our recently adopted Strategic Plan, entitled Target 26, we set the goal of increasing the global reach of our sport. The cooperation with the Olympic Channel will help connect with Olympic fans worldwide and bring the entertainment and thrilling competitions that biathlon provides to a larger audience."

Biathlon will be front and center in the upcoming episode of the Olympic Channel original series Legends Live On.The story of legendary German biathlete and Olympic gold medalist Uschi Disl premieres worldwide on Thursday.

China to Host First Winter Triathlon World Cup

The first Winter Triathlon World Cup will be held on January 4, 2020 in the Chinese resort of Harbin.

Winter triathlon, which involves a run, mountain bike and cross country ski all on snow, is one of the newest additions to the International Triathlon Union calendar. The first world championship in the discipline was held in 1997 in Italy.

The Harbin Winter Triathlon World Cup, organized by the Chinese Federation, will offer travel subsidy for two athletes and one coach from 10 countries.

The ITU also announced that the Spanish city ofA Coruña will host an ITU Paratriathlon World Cup on June 6 and 7 of next year. The race will be included in the Paralympic Qualification period, offering great opportunities to paratriathletes attempting to make the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Another new addition to the Paratriathlon World Cup calendar for 2020 is Bermuda, which will host a race on April 19.

Stand Up Paddling & Paddleboard World Championship

El Salvador is hosting the 2019 edition of the International Surfing Association’s World SUP and Paddleboard Championship this week.

Through the first three days of the competition, France held the overall team points lead with seven of the 15 gold medals awarded. 161 athletes from 27 countries are taking part in the event, which runs through Sunday on the coast of El Sunzal, El Salvador.

A live stream of the championship can be found at www.isasurf.org. Fans can also watch the live webcast on the ISA’s Facebook page, International Surfing Association.

This is the eighth edition of the event and the first time it is being held in El Salvador.

Written by Gerard Farek

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